Archive for June, 2017

• My Sincerest Apology

  Date: 2017.06.24 | Category: Uncategorized

  I want to apologize to everyone whose inbox was inudated with posts from my blog today.  We have a couple of children who say they want to blog and we decided to keep them all in one place for ease in printing journals of our blogs.

  Unfortunately that meant taking all of Jasmine’s previous blogs and transferring them to my blog.  I thought I was being tricky and publishing them from the date Jasmine published them.  I had no clue they would all get sent to all of you wonderful folks who subscribe.

  My husband asked me why I was forwarding all of the blogs to him and I realized what was going on.  I truly am sorry.

  Lisa

• Jasmine’s Dream – Forgive Yourself

  Date: 2017.06.23 | Category: Jasmine's Blog

  Everybody in life makes mistakes sometimes really big ones, but God always forgives us.

  If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins…  1 John 1:9
  

  But sometimes I think I say many bad things that I can’t be forgiven and I can’t forgive myself.  One time I talk to mama about it and mama says I should forgive myself because if you don’t forgive yourself it is like you are saying God is lying and He won’t forgive us.  But God is perfect and doesn’t make any mistakes and His word is true.  If God can forgive me, then I should trust Him and be able to forgive myself.

  Some people do really, really bad stuff.  Some people kill others and do some really bad stuff and they think they can’t be forgiven.  They think God will never forgive them.  They think what they did was too bad and they mess up their lives.

  But some people do some really, really bad stuff and then they believe God will forgive them and they change their lives and do some really big things for God.  People like Paul in the Bible.  Paul killed Christians and then he saved Christians.  He changed his whole life when he trusted God and forgave himself.

  God tells us to always forgive others.  Mama says I should forgive the nannys and my mama and my grandma.   Mama says it doesn’t do any good to be mad at them because they don’t know I am mad.  It only makes me sad and hurts my family here.  It doesn’t mean that it is okay.  It means that I leave it to God to judge them.

  My family always forgives me when I make a mistake or I get mad.  I sometimes hurt my mama’s feelings because I feel bad about myself.  Mama says that people who are hurting inside hurt other people.  I didn’t want mama to love me because sometimes I am afraid she will leave me too.  I love mama.  I don’t want to have mama leave me too.

  Sometimes I think my only choice is to make everyone hate me so that I can leave and live alone.  I think everybody’s lives will be easier if they don’t have to take care of me.  But my choice was wrong mama says that my family would be sad if I wasn’t here and they want to take care of me because they love me.

  Right now I work hard to forgive myself.  I want to let my family know that I love them.  I want to live here.  I want to do BIG things for God.  I want to make good choices.  Mama always says, “Was that a good choice?”  Now I ask myself that too, cause rule #1 in our house is to be kind.

  If you forgive yourself and other people, you will make your life easier because you won’t be an angry person.  If you don’t forgive, you become an angry person because you always think everything is about you and what people did to you, but if you forgive people, you can be happy and figure out what God wants you to do with your life.

• Jasmine’s Blog – Perspective

  Date: 2017.06.23 | Category: Jasmine's Blog

  Perspective – a particular attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.

  My friend, Amy Eldridge, Love Without Boundaries, just visited Cambodia and Uganda.  Her stories made me think about what other kids go through in other countries. We should be thankful for what we have.  There are kids with no shoes who have to walk hours to get water.  They want to go to school but they can’t.  They get one meal a day.  They are hungry and don’t have much water.

  In Cambodia, these kids get up as early as 2 a.m. to pick through the garbage in the dump for cans and food to eat.  There are kids with no parents.  There are mean people who take little girls and do bad things with them.  My heart is sad.  There is much evil in the world.

  I hope that we can do something for these kids.  I want to give as much as I can to build schools and send food.  Amy wrote about it on LWB’s blog,

  Cambodia: Part Four

  I have read these blogs with my mom and I cried. These kids should not have to live like this. I am so excited about trying to help them.

  It gave me a new perspective on the orphanage. Even though the orphanage was bad I still had food and a bed to sleep in. I had a blanket to keep me warm and some water to drink. I sat in a wheelchair and I was mostly safe. I didn’t have to work all day. It can always be worse. I HATE that it’s worse and can’t believe that some kids have to do this.

  I looked at all these pictures of the dump and it makes me so sad. I have new nephew and when I held him it was so wonderful. He is so cute and I think about how could you look at this baby and put him in a dump. My grandma told me that she found me in the dump. Because I was “garbage” is why nobody liked me. Holding my nephew gave me the new perspective that I wasn’t garbage because I was in a dump. He couldn’t do anything to be put in a dump and I couldn’t either. No kids should ever be in a dump.

  Some people do anything to help their child and still they don’t have enough. They sell everything they have and still it’s not enough. There are kids that need sponsors on Amy’s page. If you can help, please help them.

  I think about how I want a $20 game but what could they do with that $20? I am having a hard time thinking about buying a game when others don’t have shoes or food. I have a hard time when I am just thinking about myself and being selfish. What could I give up so they could have more? I want to use my money the right way.

  I have a new perspective on lots of things.

   

• Jasmine’s Blog – Elyse’s Words

  Date: 2017.06.23 | Category: Elyse, Jasmine's Blog

  (Elyse recently asked me to share this on Facebook)

  We have been studying the human body. We were talking about fingerprints and how every single one is different. It was a wonderful talk about how each of us is unique and different. Later that evening Elyse asked me this question.

  Elyse – Mom, how come your fingerprints don’t scar? I mean I have scars all over my body but I don’t have them on my finger. It was cool what we learned about in school today. You lose your skin but you still have the same fingerprints.
  Me – Do you mean your finger tips? Why would you have scars on your fingers sweetie? Did you burn them? Did something happen?
  Elyse – No, when I was really bad. I mean really bad. The nanny would pick up the skin on the end and cut them with a scissors but I don’t have any scars.
  Me – (Trying to stay unemotional because she stated this fact with no emotion whatsoever. It was like she was discussing someone styling her hair.) Why would she do that?
  Elyse – It was only when I was really bad. Like when I asked her why she was being mean to someone. I think she just wanted people to be afraid of her so we wouldn’t tell on her and she wouldn’t get in trouble. She finally got fired though.
  Me – They finally fired her? I’m happy to hear that. You know that no one should touch you like that or hurt you like that. You know you don’t deserve that right? No one deserves that.
  Elyse – Yes, I know that now. No one should hurt me. It’s just the way it is mom. Some people didn’t care and left us alone. Some people were just mean. No one really cared about me because my legs didn’t work or at least that’s how I felt. It’s just the way it is.
  Mom – I’m sure people cared. It’s just different. It’s a different culture and your love language is hugs. No one really hugs there so you had a hard time.
  Elyse – Mom, do you think people understand that it’s not a good place to be a kid? Do you think they understand how much these kids want mommies and daddies? Why don’t more kids get adopted? Do you think it’s just because people don’t know that they need familes? Why can’t we adopt mom? It’s not fair! We should adopt 3 more. Could we tell them we will stop at 3 more? Please mom.

  These are the things that are hardest for me. Things that are part of their past that just become an every day occurrence. It doesn’t stand out as something that was horrible. It just is what it is. These are the hard things. It’s not hard to help Elyse cath, or help her in and out of her wheelchair. It’s not hard to reach the things she can’t reach or help her get into the tub. What is hard is trying to heal the pain of past hurts. The trauma is so much bigger than the physical issues. Elyse is a blessing. She is joyful, sweet, caring, and so very bright. How many Elyse’s are just waiting for a family of their own?

  I know it’s hard. I know it’s out of your comfort zone. I know it’s ridiculously expensive. I know it’s scary beyond anything you could even imagine BUT the longer they wait, the harder it is.

  Last year internationally adoptions were at their lowest. 5,647 children got families. It is estimated that there are millions of orphans waiting worldwide. There is a foster care crisis in this country right now. There are 400,000 kids in foster care. 100,000 wait to be adopted. 20,000 will age out without ever receiving a family. (Adoptuskids.org) This isn’t ok. Don’t kid yourself into thinking this is ok and someone else will do it.

  Do something! Anything! Just don’t close your eyes and pretend it isn’t happening. Elyse, who was adopted at the age of 9, has asked me to share this story so that people understand that kids are waiting. She says they want families so much! She wants you to understand that bad things happen, but the very worst thing that happens is feeling like you just don’t matter.

• Do Something from Jasmine’s Dream

  Date: 2017.06.23 | Category: Jasmine's Blog

  Do you ever feel like you can’t do anything?  Like the problem is so big you couldn’t possibly make a difference.

  My mommy and daddy work with Love Without Boundaries.  We pray and talk about the kids they are trying to help.  We talk about their lives and what they are going through. Sometimes it makes me cry.  The kids don’t have shoes.  The kids are very sick.  They kids walk for hours to get water.  They sometimes only eat one meal.  They want to go to school so bad.  They want to learn how to read so they can make their lives better.

  I think about how I get to live a very beautiful life and then I look at what is happening there.  I want to be able to help but I can only do a little.  I don’t have a lot of money.  Sometimes it makes me really sad.  Mama says I have two choices:

  1.) I can be sad and mad about it and get nothing done.

  OR

  2.) I can use my voice to make others think about it and try and do something.

  I want to do something.

  My birthday is coming up and I think about all the stuff I have.  I have so much and they have so little.  Why?  I keep telling my mom I don’t want anything for my birthday.  I wish they could live a good life like us.  I don’t deserve this life so why do I get to live it?   I don’t like the evil world where babies die and kids starve.  I don’t like it at all.

  Mama always says once your eyes are open you can’t pretend it isn’t happening.  I wonder why others don’t do anything, but mama says they don’t know.

  Do you know that there’s a little girl who is 14 called Grace on Love Without Boundaries?  She is in so much pain and LWB has been able to get her a doctor to help.

  

  Now you know.  I just want people to help her.  It’s just so sad.  She can only sit for 20 minutes.  No kids should have to be hurting.  Right now I just really want to help her get better.

  That would be the very best birthday present ever.  I pray about her and hope that this time surgery will work.  She’s already had four surgeries.  But now Love Without Boundaries has a really good doctor.  Maybe this time she will be able to be fixed so she can feel better.

  If you are sad about Grace too, please help her get surgery.  She really needs help.  Please pray about her and ask for God to let the doctor know what they need to do so she can get better.

  Thank you for praying for Grace.